In 1952, a magazine reporter asked notorious criminal Willie Sutton why he robbed banks, to which Sutton famously replied, “Because that’s where the money is.” Today, if you
were to ask me why IDEA focuses on district
energy in cities, the answer would be, “Because
that’s where the emissions are.” Over 73 percent
of global carbon emissions occur in cities. Currently, over 55 percent of the global population
resides in cities, with that number expected to
grow to 70 percent by 2050. Cities are the primary economic and cultural engines in most
countries, and as urban populations grow, so do
the compelling opportunities to deploy cleaner,
more resilient energy infrastructure, both in
established and emerging cities. IDEA members
have focused on delivering efficient district
energy in cities and on campuses since 1909.

But the urgency to deploy these systems on a
grand scale has never been greater.

District energy is a proven urban environmental strategy. At the turn of the 19th century,
large cities across the U.S. were plagued by poor
air quality, presenting a public health issue and
an economic challenge. There were also public
safety concerns from increased risk of fire from
thousands of furnaces and boilers in individual
buildings. District heating systems were developed specifically to improve local air quality by
reducing emissions from coal combustion in
furnaces in individual buildings. Aggregating
the thermal requirements of hundreds of buildings produced economies of scale to enable
investment in more efficient central plants with
more sophisticated emissions controls.

In fact, Pittsburgh, Pa., our host city for
IDEA2019, at one time had dangerous air quality
with harmful levels of soot and particulates from
local industry and hundreds of unregulated
furnaces. In some ways, it was analogous to the
Great Smog of 1952 in London, a severe air pollution event that caused 10,000 deaths and
nearly 100,000 respiratory-related illnesses.

Post World War II, the citizens, industry and local
government of Pittsburgh came together to support deployment of district energy systems as
a primary strategy to improve air quality and
reduce the health risks.

Today, Pittsburgh is once again demon-strating how local government leadership andstakeholder collaboration can contribute to amore resilient and sustainable local economyby investing in cleaner, modern energyinfrastructure. I would urge readers to visit“ONEPGH – Resilient Pittsburgh” to see howlocal leadership from the office of MayorWilliam Peduto is fostering collaboration onissues of transportation, housing, industry and,most notably, deployment of cleaner energyinfrastructure for the next century.

One of the primary areas of focus at
IDEA2019: “The Energy for More Resilient Cities” will be “Think Global, Act Local” as industry
and government leaders share best practices
on public-private partnering in district energy
infrastructure. The conversation will feature successful and instructive cases where either public or private champions took the lead in driving investment. The challenge to reduce global
greenhouse gas emissions will require a major
overhaul of energy systems, especially in dense
urban settings, and a rethinking of energy consumption across all sectors.

Deployment of more energy-efficient district energy systems, optimizing available
industrial waste heat and integrating renewable
energy technologies for heating and cooling
represents one of the most efficient ways to
reduce emissions and primary energy demand
in our cities and communities. Depending on
local conditions, city policy makers may have
more control over district energy development
strategies, compared to other energy options,
since district energy infrastructure is more likely
to be built within city boundaries. According to
findings by the U.N. Environment Programme
and the Global Covenant of Mayors, deployment
of district-scale clean energy could achieve
global emissions reductions of 0.7 GtCO2 per
year by 2050.

Today, district energy is also a primary
local air quality strategy in China and Chile.

In Qingdao, China, public-private partners are
expanding a district energy/CHP system to
recover surplus heat from industry, cutting use
of coal to improve local air quality and health
conditions. Qingdao is one of China’s low-carbon pilot cities, targeting economic development through mitigation and adaptation
through a low-temperature district heating
network. Replacing coal, Qingdao will shift to
natural gas, solar thermal, geothermal and surplus industrial heat as primary district heating,
cooling and power systems for the city popu-